WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT

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1 Electronic Press Kit WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT (Rotsda Dedamitsa Msubukia - როცა დედამიწა მსუბუქია) 2015 Georgia Germany HD 16:9 color 76 min. Georgian with English Subtitles 2015 Goslab Jörg Langkau World Sales Taskovski Films info@taskovskifilms.com Tel Christopher Street London EC2A 2B UK Electronic Press Kit Page 1 of 13

2 General information Title When the Earth Seems to Be Light Original title Genre Language Subtitles Duration Country Rotsa Dedamitsa Msubukia - როცა დედამიწა მსუბუქია Documentary Georgian English 76 minutes Festival / Cinema 45 / 52 Minutes TV Distribution Georgia Germany Production year 2015 Format HD - 16:9 Sound Dolby 5.1. Original Idea Director Cinematography Sound Sound Design Editing Salome Machaidze David Meskhi Salome Machaidze Tamuna Karumidze David Meskhi Levan Maisuradze Tamuna Karumidze David Meskhi Irakli Ivanishvili Goslab Kai Lillich Tamuna Karumidze Salome Machaidze Music Natalie Beridze aka TBA Nika Machaidze aka NIkakoi Maxime Machaidze aka Luna 9 Vakouz Diaperpin Thomas Brinkmann Producer Executive Producer Co-Producer World Sales Goslab Jörg Langkau Zaza Rusadze Zazarfilm Temur Ugulava Taskovski Films World Premiere IDFA 2015 First Appearance Competition With the financial support of IDFA 2015 Award for Best First Appearance Georgian National Film Center Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Ajara AR Film Development Support Program Electronic Press Kit Page 2 of 13

3 Loglines & Synopsis Logline 1 Impressions from the lives of young skaters, artists and musicians in the Republic of Georgia, creating their own open spaces. Logline 2 A coming-of-age documentary about a group of young skaters, artists and musicians in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia -a city of contradictions and upheavals. Synopsis 1 A poetic documentary about modern youth... the stories of kids, skaters, artists and musicians in a post soviet Georgia - a country in a distracted condition, where one can be crashed by the power of church and politics. A close look at the rich world of teenager dreams and sentiments, being lost searching for non existing spots of freedom and romantic state of mind. Synopsis 2 This is a story of kids, skaters and musicians, being lost in a controversial reality of a post soviet Country - a country in a distracted condition, where one can be crashed by the power of church and politics. They are searching for non-existing spots of their freedom and romantic state of mind in an adult world, that has not much to offer. They try to find their own values and their own ways to express their protest through transforming the established into their playground. They cover the voice of violence and aggression around them through their own voices. Do they succeed in their attempt to brake free? This documentary is a response to the society, an attempt to make a contemporary tale and bring back a little bit of magic to our modern civilization. Synopsis 3 (IDFA) Young Georgian skaters, artists and musicians feel trapped between the powers of the church and the political world. They create their own open spaces beneath viaducts and at other non-places that lend themselves to romantic notions of a free existence. Questions are posed to them about God, love and freedom, but these boys would much rather just be skating for many of them it has grown into an obsession. They may be unfazed by painful falls, but narrow-mindedness really gets to them. One of them was bullied because of his hairstyle, and he explains that Georgians simply won t accept people who look different. Many of their friends share their bleak vision of their country. The way they see it, Georgia is all about the old rather than the new. They get no acknowledgement here, so they spend their evenings throwing Molotov cocktails at a concrete slope. Their tattoos are a diary you can t escape from. You tattoo what you feel; what s important for you at that moment. The portraits of the skaters are based on a series of photos by David Meskhi, one of the three co-directors. This impression of their daily lives is intercut with news footage of demonstrations in Georgia. Electronic Press Kit Page 3 of 13

4 Director s Note Salome Machaidze I left Georgia 20 years ago. Always when re-visiting my home country, I had this crazy feeling that there was no movement and no actual world time there. This feeling always frightened me and yet it was kind of relaxing. Things in Georgia have always the double and dialectic meaning. You are sad and happy, peaceful and violent, angry and kind at the same time... Eastern and western influences clash there on each other and my country doesn t know which way to go - so do the people, so does the culture. This conflict is palpable everywhere and observable in everyone. So I started to think about a movie... The main inspiration for my work was the photography of my husband - David Meskhi. He has been photographing young people in Georgia since many years. He was the only Georgian person I knew, who was capturing young subcultures, sport and lifestyle of youth in those crazy years, when the Soviet 90ies were slowly moving into a new millennium... It was time when influenced by the new propaganda we started to watch MTV and US movies... David s pictures kept me busy. I questioned what was so magical about them? What made them so different from all the other images of Skaters I have known, seen and loved from the western world? The answer was the paradox"... It was the paradox and also the conflict between the condition of those young people portrayed and the place where they were photographed. Exactly that became a staring and also central point of our documentary film... Salome Machaidze Electronic Press Kit Page 4 of 13

5 Director s Note Tamuna Karumidze "When the Earth Seems to Be Light" is a poetic documentary telling the story of youngsters in a tough environment of a post soviet Georgia. A country in ruins, although on the surface it makes an appearance of a developing one. We are focusing on feelings and point out the controversy of the young generation with the society they live in. Our protagonist deal with the daily routine and maybe at the first site there is nothing to escape from. They try to modify the reality so that it would be possible to exist in it. The protagonists are 16 to 18 years old boys, a group of skaters and an 18 years old boy Maxime, who is already an acknowledged musician and has a quite established opinion about the world around him. While addressing the young generation, we attempt to make a contemporary tale and give back a bit of magic to our modern society. Society that is mostly occupied with politics, wars and business and has no space left for romantic dreamers like our protagonists. Their thoughts might be naive and the ways of rejecting the reality very simple, but this is their peaceful way of escaping aggression, surrounding them on the streets, intruding in to their homes through TV channels. Tamuna Karumidze Electronic Press Kit Page 5 of 13

6 Director s Note David Meskhi I was working as a photographer for past 8 years with different group of youngsters. Gravity and philosophy of coming of age was always part of my photographs. For the moment of creation of documentary I already knew that there are some sensitive questions and valuable aspects of youth that need to be told differently in a specific, powerful cinematic language and not as a set of photographs which both adult and youth worlds can accept and enjoy. So now we have bigger picture. You may be not interested in Georgia as a country, in skateboarding or in hip-hop as a culture in general, but what you cannot ignore is youth, value of next generation that is completely lost. Adult world is failing as meaning of the words such as homeland, religion, love, justice and education. What seems cool is fragile, they are not sure they don t know. In our documentary there is lot s of noise, streets are loud, you can hear sirens all around, skaters wheels are on fire and speed of life is extreme but it s going nowhere they are stack in the same place. David Meskhi Electronic Press Kit Page 6 of 13

7 Co-Producer s Note Zaza Rusadze Skateboarding in our home country Georgia, in contrary to the western world, is still a part of an underground, rather than of a mainstream culture. In 2012 we started our arduous journey through the initial funding of the project. The vision of the Director-Trio of Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze and David Meskhi was to turn skateboarding into a cinematographic metaphor. Our film aimed showing the spirit of the modern young adolescents portraying their quest for freedom with the dramatic labyrinth of Georgian reality in the background. World Premiering at IDFA 2015 is a great closure after 3 years of the passionate work with all its ups and downs. Having Taskovski Films on our side strengthens our faith that WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT truly has its universal, yet very individual charm and will surely appeal to the international audience worldwide. Zaza Rusadze, Zazarfilm Co-Producer Electronic Press Kit Page 7 of 13

8 Biographies Producers & Co-Producers Producer - GOSLAB Goslab [Gosudarstvenaia Laboratoria] - State Laboratory in Russian, is a multimedia collective of Georgian artists concerned with experimentation and innovation of new forms for communicating information. Opposed to purist notions of art, Goslab attempts to occupy the space between formal and aesthetic visions as well as combine alternate mediums such as photography, music, fashion, video, film and the written word in translating ideas. It has an open-ended concept that morphs and modifies itself with the input of different members. Goslab is based in Tbilisi, Georgia though acting internationally. GosLab artists are: Gio Sumbadze (Gioslavia), Nino Chubinishvili, Nika Machaidze (Nikakoi/Erast), Maya Sumbadze, Salome Machaidze, Natalie TBA Beridze, Zaza Rusadze, Tamuna Karumidze, Levan Nutsubidze. Associate Producer JÖRG LANGKAU Jörg Langkau is an independent producer and director from Cologne, Germany. He's producing and directing documentaries, videos and television shows. Executive Producer ZAZA RUSADZE In 1996 Zaza Rusadze was accepted as the youngest student at the film school HFF "Konrad Wolf in Potsdam in directing class and moved to Germany. In 2003 he received his degree in directing. Rusadze has been engaged as assistant director on film sets of Ineke Smits, Dito Tsintsadze, Otar Ioseliani and Julia Loktev. In 2007 Rusadze founded the Film Production Company Zazarfilm in Tbilisi and splits his time between Europe and Georgia since. Co-Producer - ZAZARFILM The Film Production Company Zazarfilm has been launched in March The company was founded by a Georgian writer/director Zaza Rusadze and is based in Tbilisi. Zazarfilm aims to develop, produce and distribute author driven documentary and feature films. In 2009 the company has completed its first production a short film by Zaza Rusadze FOLDS AND CRACKS. The film received the Discovery Award at the 19th Festival of East European Cinema in Cottbus. Zazarfilm's first feature length production, the directorial debut by Zaza Rusadze A FOLD IN MY BLANKET world-premiered at 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2013 as the opening film of the Panorama. Zazarfilm is currently in developing /producing several documentary and feature film projects. Electronic Press Kit Page 8 of 13

Bio & Filmographies Directors Salome Machaidze is a gerogian artist and filmmaker based in Berlin, Germany.

She worked as a set designer for the Film Actors Theater, and was part of the controversial arts movement in Georgia during the age of Perestroika in 90's.

In 2002, she studied experimental media at UDK (Berlin University of Art) receiving her masters in 2005.

9 Bio & Filmographies Directors Salome Machaidze is a gerogian artist and filmmaker based in Berlin, Germany. In 1993 She studied Stage Design at the Tbilisi State Academy of Fine Arts, graduated in 1995 with a degree in Fine Arts. In Georgia she had solo exhibitions and was part of the artist's group GOSLAB. She worked as a set designer for the Film Actors Theater, and was part of the controversial arts movement in Georgia during the age of Perestroika in 90's. She graduated from UDK (Berlin University of Arts) in year 2000 with a degree in visual communication. In 2002, she studied experimental media at UDK (Berlin University of Art) receiving her masters in Her thesis, the feature-length experimental movie "Trigger Tiger" screened at the Voklsbühne Theater in Berlin. Salome Machaidze's works have been exhibited and screened in Georgia, Germany, France, UK, Switzerland, Poland, Greece, and Austria. SALOME MACHAIDZE 2015 MONTE CARLO FINAL animation (in production) 2015 FINAL BATTLE animation (in production) 2015 WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT documentary 2008 DIMA documentary 2006 TRIGGER TIGER fiction feature 2003 SOLDIERS CRY video 2002 BOARDS OF MONTE CARLO 2 - video 2002 BOARDS OF MONTE CARLO 1 - video Tamuna Karumidze is a visual artist and documentary filmmaker. She was born in 1975 in Tbilisi, Georgia she graduated from the Faculty of Audio-Visual Media Design at the Berlin University of Arts. Karumidze is a founding member of Goslab - a multimedia collective of Georgian artists. TAMUNA KARUMIDZE 2015 WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT Director 2013 A FOLD IN NY BLANKET- Fiction, Editing 2010 CHANTRAPAS- Fiction, Actress 2010 GAME / GHOST CITIES Director s Assistant 2002 ZAHESI 708- Director, documentary 2006 TRIGGER TIGER fiction feature, Producer, Editor 2006 WE ALL ARE CROWS Director, video documentary David Meskhi is a photographer based in Berlin, Germany. He was born in 1979 in Tbilisi, Georgia. After gaining a Master s Degree in Hydro ecology, Meskhi decided to change his profession entirely and turned to art. He received a Academic Degree in Photo Journalism at Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. Since 2004 Meskhi has been working as a photographer and photojournalist for several magazines, and his artworks have been exhibited in Georgia, Germany, France, Austria, Israel, Russia and the UK. In he codirected a documentary when the earth seems to be light with Salome Machaidze and Tamuna Karumidze, which is based on his photographs WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT - documentary DAVID MESKHI Electronic Press Kit Page 9 of 13

Available Film Stills #001 http://zazarusadze.

10 Available Film Stills #001 #002 #003 #004 #005 Electronic Press Kit Page 10 of 13

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#011 http://zazarusadze.com/when_earth_film_stills/when_earth_film_still_011.

tif #013 http://zazarusadze.com/when_earth_film_stills/when_earth_film_still_013.

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Poster # 01 - download: http://zazarusadze.com/when_earth_film_stills/when_earth_poster.

13 Poster # 01 - download: Trailer on YouTube: Trailer Download Option on Vimeo: Electronic Press Kit Page 13 of 13

THE MACHINE WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING DISAPPEAR A film by Tinatin Gurchiani An Icarus Films Release

THE MACHINE WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING DISAPPEAR A film by Tinatin Gurchiani An Icarus Films Release Director Tinatin Gurchiani opens a window into the lives of common folk in her native Georgia, where the